This invention concerns a method and a system for processing value documents.
Before value documents are processed with a value-document processing apparatus they are usually prepared for the impending processing. The preparation of the value documents involves in particular capturing data or information of the deposit and making it available for the processing by the value-document processing machine. The data can comprise particulars about the depositor, an account number, the quantity and the value of the value documents forming the deposit, a unique transaction number, etc. In addition, the prepared value documents are inserted into containers that allow an automatic feed of the value documents to the value-document processing apparatus. For feeding the value documents to the value-document processing apparatuses there are employed e.g. containers that are open on one side and into which one or more value-document stacks of loose value documents are inserted, which stand on their longitudinal edges in the respective container.
The value documents can belong to different deposits which are respectively associated with a certain person, an account, an accounting unit, etc. The value documents of the deposits are usually bank notes, but can also comprise checks, vouchers or other value documents.
To enable uninterrupted processing by the value-document processing apparatus, the deposits are mutually separated by header cards or separation cards which are added between different deposits. The value-document processing apparatus recognizes said header cards or separation cards and thus also the start of each new deposit. The header cards have information on the deposit following after the respective header card. Said information is read by the value-document processing apparatus, so that the latter can associate value documents with the deposit to which they belong. If a plurality of containers are required for an extensive deposit, the order in which said containers are fed to the value-document processing apparatus must be heeded.